Avoiding the Issue
by DeathSprite
Summary: It's Aya's birthday, and Ken takes it upon himself to give Aya a happy birthday.


It's my birthday.  
  
It's my birthday, 'mouto-chan, and I'm spending it here with you.  
  
I don't suppose that comes as a surprise. I spend a lot of my time with you.  
Any other day and this would be normal. Routine.  
But today's my birthday, Aya-chan. The day when you acknowledge the passage of time; step forward with the certainty that you are getting older.  
  
Getting older, Aya-chan, and leaving you behind.  
  
You're slipping through my hands, imouto. I used to think nothing could tear me away from you, me fighting tooth and nail to be by your side.   
  
But now, as I sit and stare at you, I can no longer find the words to speak.   
  
And the silence is not comfortable.  
  
I've lost me, Aya.  
  
Aya.  
  
That's what everyone calls me now.  
  
I've taken your name, imouto, and tarnished it beyond recognition.  
  
Would you like to be called Ran, instead?  
  
No one calls me Ran.  
  
And I wouldn't change that for anything.  
  
Even if I've ruined your name, imouto, I can't ruin mine.  
  
How selfish.  
  
What a thing to think of on my birthday, imouto.  
  
How many other teenagers are thinking these kinds of thoughts on their birthday?  
  
I don't know why I feel so disappointed. Did I really expect something to happen?  
  
We don't celebrate birthdays in Wei§.  
  
And why should we? We're assassins.  
  
Your loving brother, the assassin.  
  
I haven't celebrated my birthday in years.  
  
Not since you.  
  
~~~  
  
Aya stood, finally unable to sit idly by his sister's bed any longer. He crossed the room and exited, making his way down the hall to the stairs.  
  
Halfway down the stairs, he stiffened at the sound of footsteps.  
  
No one ever used the stairs.  
  
Much less someone whose footsteps he recognized.  
  
He briefly considered ducking into a door, but he was between levels and by then the overeager footfalls had caught up with him.  
  
"Aya! There you are!" A slightly panting, grinning Hidaka Ken stood at the base of the stairwell, one hand gripping the rail after his helter-skelter flash up the stairs.  
  
"What are you doing here?" He growled, an eyebrow raising up as his gaze narrowed.  
  
Ken's grin didn't falter.  
  
"I figured you'd be here."  
  
Ken made no mention of how he knew Aya was here or if he knew why Aya was here, but somehow Aya knew he knew.  
  
"Don't you have anything better to do?" he snarled.  
  
Ken's visage faded into a slight frown.  
  
"Don't you have anything better to do on your birthday?"  
  
Aya frowned, but before he could speak, Ken had closed the distance between them and was pulling Aya down the stairs at a breakneck pace.  
  
They were out of the hospital and onto the streets before Aya managed to get out a "Let go of me" that was either lost in the crowd or ignored.  
  
He tried a different tack. "Where are we going?"  
  
Ken tossed a grin over his shoulder.  
  
"We're going to have fun."  
  
***  
  
Aya didn't find another chance to speak until he was pulled out of the crush and into a small park just off the side of the busy causeway.  
  
Letting go of his hand Ken trotted up to a nearby ice cream vendor.  
  
"Chocolate." he requested.  
  
"What kind, Aya?"  
  
Aya shoved his hands in his pockets to restore the missed warmth. He opened his mouth to reply a negative, but somehow, what came out instead was  
  
"Strawberry."  
  
Ken grinned happily and ordered a second cone in the requested flavor.  
  
They walked in silence for a while before finally Ken ventured,  
  
"So whaddaya wanna do?"  
  
Aya turned to him. "You mean you don't know? This was your idea."  
  
Ken shrugged. (Fortunately, Aya was unaware that Ken's thoughts this morning had been something along the lines of 'Red. Roses. Aya. Mmmmmmm... Isn't today Aya's birthday?')  
  
"It's your birthday. I wanna do whatever you'll have fun with."  
  
Aya paused momentarily at the words, a silent war waging in his head.  
  
Go ahead have fun. If you don't have fun once in a while, you'll crack.  
  
If I have fun, he'll think I have cracked.  
  
"OK." He heard himself say. He inwardly winced and decided his mouth didn't know what it was doing and licked the ice cream to keep it occupied.  
  
"All right then," Ken said, crunching into his cone. "What should we do?"  
  
Aya shrugged. Truth be told, he was content to just stay here staring at Ken.  
  
He blinked.   
  
Where had that come from?  
  
While his mind was at work, his mouth took the time to say "I don't know. I haven't had fun in a long time, Ken."  
  
"Show me how to have fun."  
  
Damn his stupid mouth.  
  
~~~  
  
"Wha -- gah!" Ken groaned, and tumbled to the ground as the kite got tangled   
in the tree branches.  
  
Aya chuckled as Ken pouted over the lost kite. He'd had more fun in the last   
three hours than he had in the past three years.  
  
They'd done everything, and yet nothing. Aya wasn't even aware of how much   
time had passed until he looked at his watch and saw that it was two and a   
half hours later.  
  
They had done nothing memorable, but still Aya remembered the fun he'd   
had... watching Ken... having fun...  
  
He blinked back to reality as Ken called to him from...  
  
"Ken?  
  
"Where are you?"  
  
A laugh. "The tree, Aya."  
  
A pause. "Could ya come up here? I could use some help."  
  
Aya considered the tree as he neared it. Testing a branch experimentally, he   
swung onto one of the lower branches and found himself engulfed in a world   
of green.  
  
Blinking, he ascended until he found himself on a perch roughly even with   
Ken, who was holding onto the base of the tree with one hand, the other   
tangled in string as he attempted to one-handedly keep his balance and   
untangle the kite at the same time.  
  
"Hmmm... looks like you could use a hand."  
  
"Or two." Ken said wryly.  
  
Aya carefully crept forward, the green sunlight setting dappled patterns   
teasing over his skin as the leaves bled and shifted in varying patterns of   
light and darkness.  
  
Finding a comfortable perch in the thinner branches was difficult, but he   
found one at last, and his hands began to work out the tangle in the knotted   
string.  
  
It took him about eight minutes before he managed to untangle to knots in   
the kite strings.  
  
"There."  
  
"Aa." A chuckle from Ken, who had been otherwise silent. Slowly the brunette   
worked his way backward until he was at the base of the tree, and carefully   
shimmied down the branches.  
  
Aya took the quicker approach, dropping directly out of the tree in an area   
with sparser branches, landing in a catlike crouch at the bottom of the tree   
next to Ken.  
  
"Ha. Showoff." Ken surrendered the kite to a random child adrift in the   
park, then pulled Aya forward.  
  
"C'mon. Time for dinner."  
  
Aya frowned. He didn't feel like going home just yet.  
  
Ken seemed to realize this, as he clarified, "I figured we should eat out.   
It IS your birthday, after all. Where do you want to go?"  
  
~~~~  
  
They hurried down the streets, looking for the restaurant. They picked up the pace as it started to darken, more people coming up to congest the sidewalks and roadways.  
  
Aya was just beginning to feel as though he'd never find the place, when at last he spotted the royal blue awning and familiar scrawl of light from the window.  
  
"Here it is. Come on. They've got great tempura."  
  
***  
30 minutes later...  
***  
  
Aya toyed with the last of his salad, amused as Ken wolfed down the last of his meal as well.  
  
"Tho 'ow cm y're na e'n th' 'pura?" Ken managed through the last mouthful of dinner.  
  
Aya grinned. "I'm allergic to it."  
  
Ken blinked. Aya wasn't sure if Ken was surprised by his smile or his comment. Maybe both.  
  
Ken grinned. "Zat how you found out?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Ken grinned. "Same thing happened to me with lobster. Tastes great, but it gives me hives."  
  
Aya nodded. Sitting back, he wondered at the dinner. They had spent the meal talking about nothing but small, trivial stuff.   
  
He'd learned, for instance, that Ken didn't like butter on his popcorn, and thought the club on 63rd was too loud, and why were all the good TV shows being cancelled?  
  
Aya wasn't quite as garrulous -- he was perfectly content to watch Ken chatter. But he contributed now and again, letting slip that he was allergic to polyester and he had once worked at a restaurant.  
  
All in all, he'd thoroughly enjoyed his birthday. He hadn't thought he would, not with the way it had started out. Ken had put him in such a better mood. He always did.  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"Hm?" Aya looked over at Ken. He had his wallet in one hand, and the check in front of him.  
  
"Oh, nothing. I'm just short a little. Forgot to grab the rest of my cash."  
  
Aya dug out his wallet. "Or you spent too much indulging those kids at the park. How much do you need?"  
  
"Aya, no!" Ken protested. "It's your birthday. I couldn't possibly expect you to pay for it."  
  
"It's all right," Aya insisted. "Besides," he added, another small grin creeping onto his face. "I don't want to end up doing dishes on my birthday."  
  
Ken acceded, and they left, making their way slowly back to the Koneko.  
  
They had walked nearly halfway before Aya broke the silence.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"For doing this for me."  
  
"Oh, it wasn't anything special." Ken protested, a slight blush faintly visible across his nose.  
  
"Yes it was. I haven't really celebrated my birthday in years. It didn't ever seem worth it."  
  
"Of course you're worth it!" Ken exclaimed, throwing his hands out. "I don't see how you couldn't be."  
  
"Thank you." The Koneko loomed in front of them, signifying an end to the wonderful day.  
  
"You know..." Ken said slowly, "We don't have to do this just once a year. We can do it more often. That is, if you want," he amended nervously.  
  
Aya smiled. "I'd like that." Taking a brave step, he squeezed Ken's hand, letting his fingers slowly drift down as he let go.  
  
Ken smiled. "Happy Birthday, Aya."  
  
It was, wasn't it? 


End file.
